Page 97 of Vegas Heat

Somehow Kaylee tamed the wild Ben Olson, and they’re living their happily ever after. He went on record hundreds of times spouting how he never wanted kids…and now he’s blessed with not one but two perfect girls, and he’s gone on record twice as many times proving what a family man he’s turned into.

I’m happy for Kaylee. I’m glad they worked it out. I’m not jealous, exactly. I’m just wondering when my time will come.

We watch the game, and we chat about SFK during commercials while the girls nap. It isn’t until the fourth quarter when the starters are benched and the Aces are ahead by three touchdowns when Kaylee mutes the television and turns toward me.

“The girls will be up soon, and we need to talk.”

My brows dip. “About what?”

“Aboutyou, Cooper Noah. You’re acting like your best friend just died, but I’m right here.”

I laugh. “While youaremy best friend, Kaylee Olson, you’re wrong. I’m fine.”

“You are not, you big dumb idiot. You’re clearly broken up over Gabby, and I need to know what you’re going to do about it,” she says.

I blow out a breath and keep my eyes on the screen. “My hands are tied. What choice do I have?”

“You choose love. Youalwayschoose love,” she says, reaching over and squeezing my forearm.

“Like you did when you ran away from Ben?” I mutter petulantly.

“Hey,” she says sharply enough that my head whips in her direction. “That was different.” Her tone gentles.

“It’s fine, Kay. I don’t need the distraction right now anyway. It’s just…that dopey intern kid that walked in, he’s been hanging around her. He spent the night last night.”

“Oh, God. You don’t think…”

“I don’t know what to think. I think she’s playing games. I think she’s flaunting something in my face but I know her, and I know she’s not the type to just jump into something new when she’s hurting over the end of us. I fucking hate it, but what can I do?”

“You can fight, Cooper. You fight for her. You fight for what you know is right.”

“But what if it isn’t right? What if it was exciting and thrilling and steamy for a few weeks, and it was going to sputter out anyway? What if there’s too wide a gap and the fact that I want kids yesterday scares her off because she’s not even out of college? What if she doesn’t want to be with a ballplayer who just signed a three-year contract and will be gone half the year when he was the one who wanted to start a family in the first place?” I blow out a breath at the end of my rant, collapsing back on the couch as the confession drains me of everything I have left in me.

“Hey, Coop,” Kaylee says gently. “It’s all going to be okay. It’s all going to work out.”

I press my lips together and nod as I keep my eyes trained on the television and push down the emotions welling up. I won’t let them spill over, but I’m also not sure I can trust what Kaylee’s telling me.

I want to believe her, but I just don’t know how itcanwork out…unless I allow feelings to overrule logic, something I’ve never done before in my life.

CHAPTER 17: COOPER

“These are great ideas,” Joanie says in our Monday afternoon meeting. Gabby’s here—we waited to hold this meeting until she was done with class for the day, and I spent the morning working out with Danny and Nick. “I’ll get my team on it to start drafting some models, and we’ll get your approval before moving it to the ballpark operations department.”

“Thanks, Joanie.” I nod my thanks. “I’m going to walk the Spade Level again and see if it sparks up any other ideas.” The first floor everyone enters the stadium on is the Heart Level, the second level is the Diamond Level with the Club Boxes, and the third level is the Spade Level, all catchy little titles that reflect the city we’re in. They picked hearts for the first level since we’re playing with our fans’heartsor some silly jingle that makes me want to roll my eyes every time I hear it, but the Spade Level is where the kids’ area is planned.

“Great,” Troy says. “Gabriella, why don’t you go with him? I think if the two of you put your heads together, you’ll be unstoppable.”

Gabby clears her throat uncomfortably as a vision of us putting ourheadstogether pops uninvited into my mind. Or, you know, not so muchheadsas her pussy and my cock.

I purse my lips and offer a short nod. “Sure.”

“You know, Mr. Bodine,” Joanie says. “I was thinking it would be a good idea for Gabby to shadow Cooper for all things SFK to take a deeper look at the marketing angle, and maybe Justin could shadow me to get a look at the business operations side of things. Thoughts on that?”

“Perfect,” Troy says with a sharp nod. “I think it’s an excellent idea. When Cooper isn’t working on SFK, what would you like Gabby working on that’s still related to marketing?”

“We need social footage. This TikTok thing is all the rage, but to be honest I’m lost. I’m seeing all sorts of insiders post things at ballparks and they’re going viral. Imagine the clout we’d get with this brand-new stadium,” Joanie says.

“Can you handle that?” Troy asks Gabby.

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